


and the universe spins, unaware

by builtonhope_ (hannadulset)



Category: ASTRO (Band)
Genre: M/M, Myunghyuk, binu but like only if you squint, myungcky, not enough content anywhere, softest ship in ASTRO says let's revive this fucking tag
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-01
Updated: 2019-04-01
Packaged: 2019-12-27 02:13:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,239
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18294779
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hannadulset/pseuds/builtonhope_
Summary: minhyuk waits, falls in love, and then waits some more.[in which everyone has a soul mark, but only minhyuk has a kim myungjun. he's not sure what it means to choose one over the other, but he's slowly figuring it out]





	and the universe spins, unaware

**Author's Note:**

> so I am now WHIPPED for myunghyuk, here's my first soulmate au ft. a rare pair that has cuddled their way to my heart

* * *

a small sun is painted on minhyuk's wrist. everyone has soul marks, but he is convinced his is special. he has seen many beautiful ones- the milky way, a tulip, a cathedral even- but minhyuk stands firm in his claim. when the light hits his mark just right, it shines brightly like a miniature sun.

while his soul mark is beautiful, he keeps it hidden under a wrist wrap. the pale white cloth of the wrist wrap is dirt compared to the mark, but he persists. when bin asks him why, he shrugs.

"it's mine," he answers, and bin will dismiss it as another non-answer, the kind he gives when he's too lazy or embarrassed to answer a question. but it's not a non-answer, minhyuk thinks. it's the truth.

he keeps his soul mark to himself, keeps it a secret no one else knows because that way, when he finally bares his mark to his soulmate, it will be completely  _minhyuk's._  

as if to say, I have waited a lifetime for you and all I've ever done while waiting was being only ever yours.

 

;

 

his car won't start.

it's half past nine, he has a forty five minute drive ahead and a ten am meeting penciled in, and his car won't fucking start.

he runs a hand angrily through his hair and drops the nastiest curse he can think of. someone wolf-whistles behind him and he turns around to see a man even shorter than he is, with long blonde hair that is artfully-tousled around a smiling face.

 

"what?" he snaps. the man smiles undeterred. 

 

"where'd you get that?" 

 

"get what?"

 

"the curse." the man explains patiently, like they've just met under the most pleasant circumstances and are now discussing the weather, "where'd you learn that curse?"

 

"I- wha- I mean-" minhyuk groans and runs a hand through his hair, if only to resist the urge to punch the smug look off his face. not that it would do any good, he thinks. the man could be bulldozed by a dozen buffalos and he'd probably hang on one's tail whooping. he sighs, resigned. "the army."

 

"man!" he exclaims, clapping his hands. "I enlisted and all I got was a nasty burn," he lifts the hem of his shirt unabashed, and minhyuk is exposed to a flat stomach and cream-white skin marred by a long striped scar that sits just above his prominent hipbone. the tips of his ears burn red, less from secondhand embarrassment than from the way his brain now categorized this man as beautiful.  "but you actually got something cool."

 

"christ," he mutters under his breath as the beaut- _strange_ man tucks his shirt back into his jeans. "do you go around and get naked in front of strangers?"

 

"only for the cute ones," he shrugs. minhyuk's ears are turning so hot that it feels like they're about to fall off. "anyway, do you need a ride?"

 

"I don't know you." minhyuk says in disbelief. 

 

"kim myungjun." he grabs minhyuk's hand and shakes it. "well, now you do."

 

he stares at their joined hands and for the first time, he sees myungjun's wrist is covered by a black cloth, a perfect twin opposite to his own. it's this unusual habit that endears him to minhyuk, the idea of finding a kindred spirit who could possibly understand the urge to cover up what most people would consider divine artwork for some greater purpose, whatever that purpose could be.

 

he squeezes his hand and his smile softens into one that is more genuine, less comedic. "park minhyuk."

 

they walk to his car, a small sedan that smells subtly of citrus, and minhyuk tells him where to. a comfortable air settles over them, silent except for whatever song myungjun is humming along to in his head. they are cruising along the busy highway when he turns to minhyuk and asks, "so, pretty terrible day huh?"

 

"well it was, until you came." he starts, and doesn't miss the way myungjun's grip tightens on the steering wheel. "then it literally got worse." he continues, deadpan.

 

myungjun laughs, surprised but sincere. "you ungrateful brat!" he says, but his smile is wide and his fingers are ridiculously pretty and minhyuk can't stop the warmth spreading across his chest.

 

(nor, he deeply suspects, does he even want to if he could)

 

;

 

myungjun gives him his number and the liberty to contact him if he wanted. minhyuk isn't sure if he does. he knows he isn't entirely straight- a wild night with bin and their alcohol-infused hormonal teenage bodies had made sure of that- but he's not quite sure how to address this sudden and undeniable attraction to myungjun, especially when it had the potential to spin wildly out of his control.

 

the thought sits pretty on his mind that night while he, bin and sanha make the long drive to jinwoo's house for his birthday dinner. 

 

"hyung," sanha says, poking his side. "you've been rubbing your wrist since we left home. are you alright?"

 

"oh," minhyuk looks at his wrist, where his thumb now rests aware. "I hadn't noticed."

 

"what are you thinking about?" bin asks, by now well-versed in minhyuk 101.

 

minhyuk shrugs. "nothing. it just feels warm, is all."

 

"maybe you have an allergy!" sanha at twenty-two is as much of a baby as he was when he was still sixteen and desperately leaning on minhyuk to help him pass PE; when they were pairing up, he grabbed minhyuk and declared himself to be a lady, his non-existent dance skills equating to a semester of awful salsa, bruised toes, and a lasting friendship. he reaches over and cups minhyuk's cheek. "hyung, you're burning up!"

 

"why the blush, minhyuk?" bin asks with a smirk. sometimes, that fifteen-year friendship can feel like a curse.

 

"it's not a blush!" he snaps, before turning to sanha. "fine. let me check my wrist. nobody watch," he adds as a warning, but they already know to turn away.

 

he lifts the cloth gently, almost with reverence, when-

 

a glint of gold twinkling in the dark is the last thing he remembers seeing before everything turns dark.

 

;

 

when minhyuk was seven, he falls in love for the first time. park soon-ki's hair is long and shiny, pulled back by a red hairband that matches her dress. minhyuk sits next to her on the first day of kindergarten and asks her to marry him by recess.

 

she giggles and presses a finger to his cheek. "silly minhyuk, I can't marry you!"

 

"why not?" minhyuk asks, affronted. he was willing to give her his grape juice box too!

 

"because," soon-ki continues sagely, "you're not my soulmate."

 

minhyuk's eyes widen. he chances a glance at his wrist and soon-ki is proven correct; the outline of his mark remains black. the outline of soon-ki's, a silver bell, does too. his bottom lip wobbles- he was so sure theirs would be outlined in gold by now, the way it should be when one finally met their soulmate.

 

soon-ki frowns and reaches for his hand. "you should be happy! this way, you won't be marrying the wrong person. you'll be free to find your soulmate. my mother says that's called _des-tee-knee."_

 

minhyuk ponders her words for a moment before nodding. he decides soon-ki was great, even if she wasn't his soulmate. they don't get married after that, but he still gives her his juice box and she kisses his cheek while they wait in line for their turn on the slide.

 

;

 

he doesn't remember being carried out of the car and into jinwoo's bed, but it's where he wakes up eventually. sanha is curled up on the adjacent sofa, fast asleep. bin is nowhere to be seen, while jinwoo is on the foot of the bed, watching a video on his phone.

 

"hyung," he croaks, prodding his leg with his toe. "happy birthday."

 

concern immediately floods jinwoo's face. "man, you gave us a fright. what happened ?"

 

"uh," his other hand reaches for his wrist, almost unconsciously. "must've been really tired. I'm sorry for ruining dinner."

 

jinwoo shakes his head, kindness radiating off him in waves. minhyuk feels incredibly guilty for lying to him, but he can't tell him the truth yet. "it's fine, minhyuk. bin went out to get ramen because I wouldn't start dinner without you."

 

minhyuk is about to thank him when the bedroom door flies open. sanha jolts awake as bin stumbles in, smelling strongly of ramen, noodles stuck to the wet front of his shirt. "oh my god," he says between deep gulping breaths. "my soulmate is fucking gorgeous." 

 

a few second later, a man follows through the door frame, equally out of breath. he straightens and brushes the fringe of his forehead, exposing quite possibly the most beautiful face minhyuk has ever seen. bin turns to him and gives him the middle finger, an extremely smug look on his face. 

 

"fuck you, minhyuk. I told you banana boy was beautiful."

 

"congratulations bin, you just called your soulmate banana boy." minhyuk snorts. "many happy returns," 

 

in a second, bin tackles him and they wrestle on the bed. from the corner of his eye, he can see his soulmate glancing helplessly at the scene, while sanha patiently explains that this was a regular occurrence and proceeds to ask him his name, age, occupation, what is his favorite ice cream flavor-

 

"happy birthday to me," jinwoo mutters over the sound of his and bin's yelps, resigned to the idiots he (unfortunately) loves.

 

;

 

minhyuk can finally place a face and a name to the banana etched on bin's wrist. lee dongmin is tall, smart, quiet, and hopelessly enamored with bin. the pair meeting is enough of a predicament to throw everyone, even inquisitive sanha and papa bear jinwoo, off minhyuk's episode.

 

he escapes jinwoo's house early citing fatigue, and watches his friends (and dongmin) wave from the rearview mirror. once home, he goes straight to his room. with only the faint light from the streetlamp pouring through his window, minhyuk cautiously removes the band on his wrist.

 

even in near absolute darkness, there was no mistaking it- the black outline of his sun was now gone. instead, the mark looks like it was sewed into his skin with freshly spun gold thread. the sun, which was beautiful then, was ethereal now. he can't even begin to imagine how it would look like if it caught the sunlight when he walked hand in hand with his soulmate in broad daylight-

 

his soulmate.

 

he just met his soulmate.

 

with a start, he traces back his day. it's not definitely dongmin, jinwoo, sanha or bin. he went straight to nap the whole afternoon at bin's apartment after his meeting, where he shook hands with mr. choi and got an earful about being late. he remembers having to fight his smile while being lectured because he remembered myungjun-

 

he grabs his phone and hastily sends an invite to lunch before he could black out.

 

(again)

 

;

 

myungjun sits across him in a fuzzy white sweater that makes his hair impossibly brighter. his (ridiculously pretty) hands are wrapped around a mug, the smile on his face even warmer than the hazelnut coffee minhyuk ordered for himself.

 

"is this a date?" 

 

he nods.

 

"good," myungjun leans back, satisfied. they regard each other in silence, but it is unlike the comfortable one back when they first met. now it feels like someone has strung minhyuk up, and he can feel the confession crawling up his throat. he tries to gather enough courage to say it, but myungjun speaks first. "I find you very attractive."

 

"what?" he half-shouts, making the heads of the cafe patrons swerve in their direction. "are you always this forward?"

 

myungjun snorts. "why are you so surprised? I showed you my stomach when we first met, right?"

 

minhyuk continues to stare at him, gaping like a fish. he sighs, reaching over to gently tilt his chin up to close his mouth. "I was lying. I didn't do it for the cute ones. I didn't do it for anyone ever. that was, uh," myungjun pouts, looking flustered for once. "that was the first time I did that."

 

his hand is still under his chin, so minhyuk grabs that and sets their joined hands on the table. "I'm glad you did." he says, the whole soul mark ordeal temporarily shoved to the back of his mind to make room for him melting over myungjun- his hands, the smooth expanse of his throat, the lips still in that criminally adorable pout.

 

the date continues smoothly, the conversation expertly navigated by myungjun, whose conversational skills more than make up for minhyuk's glaring lack of it. he doesn't seem to mind though, seemingly happy to engage minhyuk's dry humor and sharp wit. eventually, they end up talking about soul marks when myungjun points out they both wear wrist wraps.

 

"I want to fall in love without being told I'm supposed to fall in love," myungjun's says, his declaration falling like an axe, cutting off whatever courage minhyuk had been building up to come out and say it:  _I_   _think you're my soulmate._  

 

the world tilts off its axis for a second, but myungjun is too busy staring at his wrist to notice. "I believe that the concept is real, but I also believe that the universe is a giant, bumbling idiot with far too much on its sleeve to care about intricate matters of the heart. the ultimate decision to fall in love and to stay in love, I want that to be mine alone."

 

his vision blurs, and he realizes that he's actually on the verge of tears.

 

but he's not sad. if anything, he's overwhelmed by this beautiful soul sitting across him in this crowded cafe, who just admitted to not surrendering to soul marks even when they have held so much sway over the way the world has perceived love. whatever happens, even if (and he thinks this possibility with a painful clench in his chest) myungjun isn't his soulmate, minhyuk will let himself fall for him anyway, convinced he would change his life. 

 

after all, if myungjun believes he can conquer the universe, how much more the heart of a young man who only yearns to be loved?

 

;

 

months pass and he falls deeper in love with myungjun. 

 

they don't spend that much time together- he's busy adjusting to his new position as assistant manager (mr. choi was quite pleased with his work, despite his apparent tardiness); while myungjun is appointed head architect for a trendy new building in the gangnam district. he supposes it is only the natural result of falling in love while at the upward trajectory of their professional lives.

 

there's also their art to consider. minhyuk is still part of a dance crew with bin and jinwoo, while minhyuk is being vouched to sing for an actual drama OST. 

 

but while all of his previous relationships lamented having to give up date nights for a massive migraine because of the strobe lights and loud music of a dance tournament, myungjun would enthusiastically troop to the venue with a large banner of his name painted in neon letters and scream the people in his vicinity half-deaf when he'd come onstage.

 

minhyuk too did his part: he researched how to brew tea that would soothe throats, made sure to buy him lots of scarves during winter to preserve his throat (he watched glee one time, okay) and roped dongmin to play piano for myungjun's practice because he believed that it was only the live sound of the instrument that could bring out the raw emotions he needed to convey.

 

whatever time they have for themselves, he spends clinging to myungjun. he's not touchy, god knows how many times he has to pry sanha off when he clings to him during horror movies, and yet-

 

he has no problem wrapping his arms around myungjun's waist and pulling him to sit on his lap, burying his face on the back of his neck. 

 

he's fine sacrificing playing monopoly during game nights at jinwoo's, because if he spent the time standing behind myungjun, arms wrapped around his shoulder and his chin resting atop his head, he feels like he's already won. 

 

he feels no shame in resting a hand on myungjun's knee while he drives, stealing kisses at the stoplight while the car next to them blows their horn disapprovingly.

 

it's strange and it's beautiful and it might just be figment of his imagination, but as the days go by and his feelings for myungjun grows stronger, the golden outline of his soul mark glints even brighter that it shines even in total darkness.

 

he should know- it's the only time he ever checks it.

 

afraid of what it means.

 

(afraid of what it doesn't)

 

;

 

"I need to tell you something," 

 

myungjun puts down his phone, a soft smile on his lips. "what?" 

 

minhyuk takes a deep breath. 

 

now or never.

 

"you told me on our first date that you keep your soul mark hidden because you want to fall in love on your own terms. not the universe's. I told you I felt the same way, but I lied. that's not the reason why I did it."

 

minhyuk pauses for any kind of response; myungjun is no longer smiling, but he nods once so he continues.

 

"it's because I wanted to keep my soul mark to myself, at least until I meet my soulmate. that way, when I would meet them and show them my wrist, it'll be as if I am giving them the best part of me. the part that of me that is theirs and theirs alone, the bridge to my soul."

 

"I don't know if you're my soulmate, but I don't care anymore. I feel that way about you. that part of me that feels that way about my soulmate, that is the way every inch of me feels when I'm with you. I love you, kim myungjun."

 

he removes his wrist wrap and offers his arm to myungjun. the afternoon sun catches the gold-threaded one on minhyuk's wrist, and it glows and shimmers like a drop of liquid gold. one of myungjun's hands wrap gently around his wrist while another tenderly holds his cheek.

 

"you're my soulmate, minhyuk."

 

"you don't have to say that." minhyuk replies, disbelieving. he has worked so hard to kill his hopes, but myungjun shakes his head with conviction.

 

"no, it's true," he lets go of minhyuk and peels his own wrap, revealing a wolf head, the intricate details done in the same gold thread as his own. "I looked at it because I was no longer afraid. I knew that even if the it remained unchanged, so would my feelings for you. you make me brave, park minhyuk. I love you."

 

myungjun's smiles, and it is as breathtaking as the mark on his wrist. looking at him now, it was impossible to think that he could have ever doubted that it wasn't him.

 

"I've waited a lifetime for you, myungjun." he begins again the mantra he has held close to his heart all this time, the promise that has tided him over spells of loneliness and sorrow, the one thing he has waited to tell someone all these years. "and all I've ever done while waiting was only ever being yours."

 


End file.
